The production of W bosons in association with two jets in proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of $\sqrt{s}$=7 TeV has been analysed for the presence of double-parton interactions using data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 36/pb, collected with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. The fraction of events arising from double-parton interactions, $f_{DP}^{(D)}$ has been measured through the momentum balance between the two jets and amounts to $f_{DP}^{(D)} = 0.08 \pm 0.01 (stat.) \pm 0.02 (sys.)$ for jets with transverse momentum PT > 20 GeV and rapidity |y|<2.8. This corresponds to a measurement of the effective area parameter for hard double-parton interactions of $\sigma_{eff} = 15 \pm 3 (stat.)^{+5}_{-3}$ (sys.) mb.

A search for scalar particles decaying via narrow resonances into two photons in the mass range $65-600$ GeV is performed using 20.3 fb$^{-1}$ of $\sqrt{s}$ = 8 TeV $pp$ collision data collected with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. The recently discovered Higgs boson is treated as a background. No significant evidence for an additional signal is observed. The results are presented as limits at the 95 % confidence level on the production cross-section of a scalar boson times branching ratio into two photons, in a fiducial volume where the reconstruction efficiency is approximately independent of the event topology. The upper limits set extend over a considerably wider mass range than previous searches.

Additional jet activity in dijet events is measured using $pp$ collisions at ATLAS at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV, for jets reconstructed using the anti-kt algorithm with radius parameter R=0.6. This is done using variables such as the fraction of dijet events without an additional jet in the rapidity interval bounded by the dijet subsystem and correlations between the azimuthal angles of the dijets. They are presented, both with and without a veto on additional jet activity in the rapidity interval, as a function of the mean transverse momentum of the dijets and of the rapidity interval size. The double differential dijet cross section is also measured as a function of the interval size and the azimuthal angle between the dijets. These variables probe differences in the approach to resummation of large logarithms when performing QCD calculations. The data are compared to POWHEG, interfaced to the PYTHIA 8 and HERWIG parton shower generators, as well as to HEJ with and without interfacing it to the ARIADNE parton shower generator. None of the theoretical predictions agree with the data across the full phase-space considered; however, POWHEG+PYTHIA 8 and HEJ+ARIADNE are found to provide the best agreement with the data.These measurements use the full data sample collected with the ATLAS detector in 7 TeV $pp$ collisions at the LHC and correspond to integrated luminosities of 36.1 pb$^-1$ and 4.5 fb$^-1$ for data collected during 2010 and 2011 respectively.

A generic search for anomalous production of events with at least three charged leptons is presented. The data sample consists of $pp$ collisions at $\sqrt{s}=8$ TeV collected in 2012 by the ATLAS experiment at the CERN Large Hadron Collider, and corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 20.3 fb$^{-1}$. Events are required to have at least three selected lepton candidates, at least two of which must be electrons or muons, while the third may be a hadronically decaying tau. Selected events are categorized based on their lepton flavour content and signal regions are constructed using several kinematic variables of interest. No significant deviations from Standard Model predictions are observed. Model-independent upper limits on contributions from beyond the Standard Model phenomena are provided for each signal region, along with prescription to re-interpret the limits for any model. Constraints are also placed on models predicting doubly charged Higgs bosons and excited leptons. For doubly charged Higgs bosons decaying to $e\tau$ or $\mu\tau$, lower limits on the mass are set at 400 GeV at 95% confidence level. For excited leptons, constraints are provided as functions of both the mass of the excited state and the compositeness scale $\Lambda$, with the strongest mass constraints arising in regions where the mass equals $\Lambda$. In such scenarios, lower mass limits are set at 3.0 TeV for excited electrons and muons, 2.5 TeV for excited taus, and 1.6 TeV for every excited-neutrino flavour.

Measurements of the production of jets of particles in association with a Z boson in pp collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 7 TeV are presented, using data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 4.6/fb collected by the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider. Inclusive and differential jet cross sections in Z events, with Z decaying into electron or muon pairs, are measured for jets with transverse momentum pT > 30 GeV and rapidity |y| < 4.4. The results are compared to next-to-leading-order perturbative QCD calculations, and to predictions from different Monte Carlo generators based on leading-order and next-to-leading-order matrix elements supplemented by parton showers.

A measurement of the cross section for the production of isolated prompt photons in pp collisions at a center-of-mass energy sqrt(s) = 7 TeV is presented. The results are based on an integrated luminosity of 4.6 fb-1 collected with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. The cross section is measured as a function of photon pseudorapidity and transverse energy in the kinematic range between 100 GeV and 1000 GeV and in the regions of pseudorapidity less than 1.37 and between 1.52 and 2.37. The results are compared to leading-order parton-shower Monte Carlo models and next-to-leading-order perturbative QCD calculations. Next-to-leading-order perturbative QCD calculations agree well with the measured cross sections as a function of transverse energy and pseudorapidity.

The ratio of the production cross sections for W and Z bosons in association with jets has been measured in proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 7 TeV with the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider. The measurement is based on the entire 2011 dataset, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 4.6 fb$^{-1}$. Inclusive and differential cross-section ratios for massive vector bosons decaying to electrons and muons are measured in association with jets with transverse momentum $p_T$ > 30 GeV and jet rapidity $|y|$ < 4.4. The measurements are compared to next-to-leading-order perturbative QCD calculations and to predictions from different Monte Carlo generators implementing leading-order matrix elements supplemented by parton showers.

The production of a W boson in association with a single charm quark is studied using 4.6 fb^-1 of pp collision data at sqrt(s)=7 TeV collected with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. In events in which a W boson decays to an electron or muon, the charm quark is tagged either by its semileptonic decay to a muon or by the presence of a charmed meson. The integrated and differential cross sections as a function of the pseudorapidity of the lepton from the W-boson decay are measured. Results are compared to the predictions of next-to-leading-order QCD calculations obtained from various parton distribution function parameterisations. The ratio of the strange-to-down sea-quark distributions is determined to be 0.96 +0.26 -0.30 at Q^2=1.9 GeV^2, which supports the hypothesis of an SU(3)-symmetric composition of the light-quark sea. Additionally, the cross-section ratio sigma(W^+ + bar{c})/sigma(W^- + c) is compared to the predictions obtained using parton distribution function parameterisations with different assumptions about the s-bar{s} quark asymmetry.

This paper describes a measurement of the $Z/\gamma^*$ boson transverse momentum spectrum using ATLAS proton-proton collision data at a centre-of-mass energy of $\sqrt{s}$ = 7 TeV at the LHC. The measurement is performed in the $Z/\gamma^* \rightarrow e^+e^-$ and $Z/\gamma^* \rightarrow \mu^+\mu^-$ channels, using data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 4.7 fb$^{-1}$. Normalized differential cross sections as a function of the $Z/\gamma^*$ boson transverse momentum are measured for transverse momenta up to 800 GeV. The measurement is performed inclusively for $Z/\gamma^*$ rapidities up to 2.4, as well as in three rapidity bins. The channel results are combined, compared to perturbative and resummed QCD calculations and used to constrain the parton shower parameters of Monte Carlo generators.

A measurement of splitting scales, as defined by the kT clustering algorithm, is presented for final states containing a W boson produced in proton--proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV. The measurement is based on the full 2010 data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 36 pb-1 which was collected using the ATLAS detector at the CERN Large Hadron Collider. Cluster splitting scales are measured in events containing W bosons decaying to electrons or muons. The measurement comprises the four hardest splitting scales in a kT cluster sequence of the hadronic activity accompanying the W boson, and ratios of these splitting scales. Backgrounds such as multi-jet and top-quark-pair production are subtracted and the results are corrected for detector effects. Predictions from various Monte Carlo event generators at particle level are compared to the data. Overall, reasonable agreement is found with all generators, but larger deviations between the predictions and the data are evident in the soft regions of the splitting scales.

Double-differential dijet cross sections measured in pp collisions at the LHC with a 7 TeV centre-of-mass energy are presented as functions of dijet mass and rapidity separation of the two highest-pT jets. These measurements are obtained using data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 4.5/fb, recorded by the ATLAS detector in 2011. The data are corrected for detector effects so that cross sections are presented at the particle level. Cross sections are measured up to 5 TeV dijet mass using jets reconstructed with the anti-kt algorithm for values of the jet radius parameter of 0.4 and 0.6. The cross sections are compared with next-to-leading-order perturbative QCD calculations by NLOJET++ corrected to account for non-perturbative effects. Comparisons with POWHEG predictions, using a next-to-leading-order matrix element calculation interfaced to a parton-shower Monte Carlo simulation, are also shown. Electroweak effects are accounted for in both cases. The quantitative comparison of data and theoretical predictions obtained using various parameterizations of the parton distribution functions is performed using a frequentist method. An example setting a lower limit on the compositeness scale for a model of contact interactions is presented, showing that the unfolded results can be used to constrain contributions to dijet production beyond that predicted by the Standard Model.

A measurement of jet shapes in top-quark pair events using 1.8 fb$^{-1}$ of $\sqrt{s}$ = 7 TeV pp collision data recorded by the ATLAS detector is presented. Samples of top-quark pair events are selected in both the single-lepton and dilepton final states. The differential and integrated shapes of the jets initiated by bottom-quarks from the top-quark decays are compared with those of the jets originated by light-quarks from the hadronic W-boson decays $W \to q\bar{q}'$ in the single-lepton channel. The light-quark jets are found to have a narrower distribution of the momentum flow inside the jet area than b-quark jets.

The integrated and differential fiducial cross sections for the production of a W or Z boson in association with a high-energy photon are measured using pp collisions at sqrt{s} = 7 TeV. The analyses use a data sample with an integrated luminosity of 4.6 fb^{-1} collected by the ATLAS detector during the 2011 LHC data-taking period. Events are selected using leptonic decays of the W and Z bosons (W(e nu,mu nu) and Z(e+ e-, mu+ mu-, nu nubar)) with the requirement of an associated isolated photon. The data are used to test the electroweak sector of the Standard Model and search for evidence for new phenomena. The measurements are used to probe the anomalous WWgamma, ZZgamma and Zgammagamma triple-gauge-boson couplings and to search for the production of vector resonances decaying to Zgamma and Wgamma. No deviations from Standard Model predictions are observed and limits are placed on anomalous triple-gauge-boson couplings and on the production of new vector meson resonances.

Measurements of fiducial cross sections for the electroweak production of two jets in association with a Z-boson are presented. The measurements are performed using 20.3 inverse femtobarns of proton-proton collision data collected at a centre-of-mass energy of sqrt(s)=8 TeV by the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider. The electroweak component is extracted by a fit to the dijet invariant mass distribution in a fiducial region chosen to enhance the electroweak contribution over the dominant background in which the jets are produced via the strong interaction. The electroweak cross sections measured in two fiducial regions are in good agreement with the Standard Model expectations and the background-only hypothesis is rejected with significance above the 5 sigma level. The electroweak process includes the vector boson fusion production of a Z-boson and the data are used to place limits on anomalous triple gauge boson couplings. In addition, measurements of cross sections and differential distributions for inclusive Z-boson-plus-dijet production are performed in five fiducial regions, each with different sensitivity to the electroweak contribution. The results are corrected for detector effects and compared to predictions from the SHERPA and POWHEG event generators.

A measurement of angular correlations in Drell-Yan lepton pairs via the phistar observable is presented. This variable probes the same physics as the Z/gamma* boson transverse momentum with a better experimental resolution. The Z/gamma*->e+e- and Z/gamma*->mu+mu- decays produced in proton--proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of sqrt(s) = 7 TeV are used. The data were collected with the ATLAS detector at the LHC and correspond to an integrated luminosity of 4.6 fb-1. Normalised differential cross sections as a function of phistar are measured separately for electron and muon decay channels. These channels are then combined for improved accuracy. The cross section is also measured double differentially as a function of phistar for three independent bins of the Z boson rapidity. The results are compared to QCD calculations and to predictions from different Monte Carlo event generators. The data are reasonably well described, in all measured Z boson rapidity regions, by resummed QCD predictions combined with fixed-order perturbative QCD calculations. Some of the Monte Carlo event generators are also able to describe the data. The measurement precision is typically better by one order of magnitude than present theoretical uncertainties.

This Letter reports a measurement of the high-mass Drell-Yan differential cross-section in proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV at the LHC. Based on an integrated luminosity of 4.9 /fb, the differential cross-section in the Z/gamma* to e+e- channel is measured with the ATLAS detector as a function of the invariant mass, Mee, in the range 116 < Mee < 1500 GeV, for a fiducial region in which both the electron and the positron have transverse momentum pT > 25 GeV and pseudorapidity eta < 2.5. A comparison is made to various event generators and to the predictions of perturbative QCD calculations at next-to-next-to-leading order.

This Letter presents the first study of $W^{\pm}W^{\pm}jj$, same-electric-charge diboson production in association with two jets, using 20.3 fb$^{-1}$ of proton--proton collision data at $\sqrt{s}=8$ TeV recorded by the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. Events with two reconstructed same-charge leptons ($e^\pm e^\pm$, $e^\pm \mu^\pm$, and $\mu^\pm \mu^\pm$) and two or more jets are analyzed. Production cross sections are measured in two fiducial regions, with different sensitivities to the electroweak and strong production mechanisms. First evidence for $W^{\pm}W^{\pm}jj$ production and electroweak-only $W^{\pm}W^{\pm}jj$ production is observed with a significance of $4.5$ and $3.6$ standard deviations respectively. The measured production cross sections are in agreement with Standard Model predictions. Limits at 95% confidence level are set on anomalous quartic gauge couplings.

The differential cross section for the process $Z/\gamma^*\rightarrow ll$ ($l=e,\mu$) as a function of dilepton invariant mass is measured in pp collisions at $\sqrt{s}=$ 7 TeV at the LHC using the ATLAS detector. The measurement is performed in the $e$ and $\mu$ channels for invariant masses between 26 GeV and 66 GeV using an integrated luminosity of 1.6 fb$^{-1}$ collected in 2011 and these measurements are combined. The analysis is extended to invariant masses as low as 12 GeV in the muon channel using 35 pb$^{-1}$ of data collected in 2010. The cross sections are determined within fiducial acceptance regions and corrections to extrapolate the measurements to the full kinematic range are provided. Next-to-next-to-leading-order QCD predictions provide a significantly better description of the results than next-to-leading-order QCD calculations, unless the latter are matched to a parton shower calculation.

The production of $Z$ bosons with one or two isolated high-energy photons is studied using $pp$ collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 8 TeV. The analyses use a data sample with an integrated luminosity of 20.3 fb$^{-1}$ collected by the ATLAS detector during the 2012 LHC data taking. The $Z\gamma$ and $Z\gamma\gamma$ production cross sections are measured with leptonic ($e^{+}e^{-}$, $\mu^{+}\mu^{-}$, $\nu\bar{\nu}$) decays of the $Z$ boson, in extended fiducial regions defined in terms of the lepton and photon acceptance. They are then compared to cross-section predictions from the Standard Model, where the sources of the photons are radiation off initial-state quarks and radiative $Z$-boson decay to charged leptons, and from fragmentation of final-state quarks and gluons into photons. The yields of events with photon transverse energy $E_T >$ 250 GeV from $\ell^{+}\ell^{-}\gamma$ events and with $E_T >$ 400 GeV from $\nu\bar{\nu}\gamma$ events are used to search for anomalous triple gauge-boson couplings $ZZ\gamma$ and $Z\gamma\gamma$. The yields of events with diphoton invariant mass $m_{\gamma\gamma} >$ 200 GeV from $\ell^{+}\ell^{-}\gamma\gamma$ events and with $m_{\gamma\gamma} > $ 300 GeV from $\nu\bar{\nu}\gamma\gamma$ events are used to search for anomalous quartic gauge-boson couplings $ZZ\gamma\gamma$ and $Z\gamma\gamma\gamma$. No deviations from Standard Model predictions are observed and limits are placed on parameters used to describe anomalous triple and quartic gauge-boson couplings.

The distribution and orientation of energy inside jets is predicted to be an experimental handle on colour connections between the hard--scatter quarks and gluons initiating the jets. This Letter presents a measurement of the distribution of one such variable, the jet pull angle. The pull angle is measured for jets produced in $t\bar{t}$ events with one $W$ boson decaying leptonically and the other decaying to jets using 20.3 fb$^{-1}$ of data recorded with the ATLAS detector at a centre-of-mass energy of $\sqrt{s}=8$ TeV at the LHC. The jet pull angle distribution is corrected for detector resolution and acceptance effects and is compared to various models.

Double-differential three-jet production cross-sections are measured in proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of $\sqrt{s} = 7$ TeV using the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. The measurements are presented as a function of the three-jet mass $(m_{jjj})$, in bins of the sum of the absolute rapidity separations between the three leading jets $(|Y^\ast|)$. Invariant masses extending up to 5 TeV are reached for $8< |Y^\ast| < 10$. These measurements use a sample of data recorded using the ATLAS detector in 2011, which corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 4.51 fb$^{-1}$. Jets are identified using the anti-$k_t$ algorithm with two different jet radius parameters, R=0.4 and R=0.6. The dominant uncertainty in these measurements comes from the jet energy scale. Next-to-leading-order QCD calculations corrected to account for non-perturbative effects are compared to the measurements. Good agreement is found between the data and the theoretical predictions based on most of the available sets of parton distribution functions, over the full kinematic range, covering almost seven orders of magnitude in the measured cross-section values.

Distributions of transverse momentum $p_T^{ll}$ and the angular variable $\phi^*_\eta$ of Drell--Yan lepton pairs are measured in 20.3 fb$^{-1}$ of proton--proton collisions at $\sqrt{s}=8$ TeV with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. Measurements in electron-pair and muon-pair final states are corrected for detector effects and combined. Compared to previous measurements in proton--proton collisions at $\sqrt{s}=7$ TeV, these new measurements benefit from a larger data sample and improved control of systematic uncertainties. Measurements are performed in bins of lepton-pair mass above, around and below the Z-boson mass peak. The data are compared to predictions from perturbative and resummed QCD calculations. For values of $\phi^*_\eta < 1$ the predictions from the Monte Carlo generator ResBos are generally consistent with the data within the theoretical uncertainties. However, at larger values of $\phi^*_\eta$ this is not generally the case. Monte Carlo generators based on the parton-shower approach are unable to describe the data over the full range of $p_T^{ll}$ and the fixed-order prediction of DYNNLO falls below the data at high values of $p_T^{ll}$. ResBos and the parton-shower Monte Carlo generators provide a much better description of the evolution of the $\phi^*_\eta$ and $p_T^{ll}$ distributions as a function of lepton-pair mass and rapidity.

The number of charged particles inside jets is a widely used discriminant for identifying the quark or gluon nature of the initiating parton and is sensitive to both the perturbative and non-perturbative components of fragmentation. This paper presents a measurement of the average number of charged particles with $p_\text{T}>500$ MeV inside high-momentum jets in dijet events using 20.3 fb$^{-1}$ of data recorded with the ATLAS detector in $pp$ collisions at $\sqrt{s}=8$ TeV collisions at the LHC. The jets considered have transverse momenta from 50 GeV up to and beyond 1.5 TeV. The reconstructed charged-particle track multiplicity distribution is unfolded to remove distortions from detector effects and the resulting charged-particle multiplicity is compared to several models. Furthermore, quark and gluon jet fractions are used to extract the average charged-particle multiplicity for quark and gluon jets separately.

Charged-particle distributions are measured in proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV, using a data sample of nearly 9 million events, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 170 $\mu$b$^{-1}$, recorded by the ATLAS detector during a special Large Hadron Collider fill. The charged-particle multiplicity, its dependence on transverse momentum and pseudorapidity and the dependence of the mean transverse momentum on the charged-particle multiplicity are presented. The measurements are performed with charged particles with transverse momentum greater than 500 MeV and absolute pseudorapidity less than 2.5, in events with at least one charged particle satisfying these kinematic requirements. Additional measurements in a reduced phase space with absolute pseudorapidity less than 0.8 are also presented, in order to compare with other experiments. The results are corrected for detector effects, presented as particle-level distributions and are compared to the predictions of various Monte Carlo event generators.

This Letter presents a measurement of the inelastic proton-proton cross section using 60 $\mu$b$^{-1}$ of $pp$ collisions at a center-of-mass energy $\sqrt{s}$ of $13$ TeV with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. Inelastic interactions are selected using rings of plastic scintillators in the forward region ($2.07<|\eta|<3.86$) of the detector. A cross section of $68.1\pm 1.4$ mb is measured in the fiducial region $\xi=M_X^2/s>10^{-6}$, where $M_X$ is the larger invariant mass of the two hadronic systems separated by the largest rapidity gap in the event. In this $\xi$ range the scintillators are highly efficient. For diffractive events this corresponds to cases where at least one proton dissociates to a system with $M_X>13$ GeV. The measured cross section is compared with a range of theoretical predictions. When extrapolated to the full phase space, a cross-section of $78.1 \pm 2.9$ mb is measured, consistent with the inelastic cross section increasing with center-of-mass energy.

This paper presents a measurement of the double-differential cross section for the Drell-Yan $Z/\gamma^{*} \rightarrow \ell^{+} \ell^{-}$ and photon-induced $\gamma\gamma \rightarrow \ell^{+} \ell^{-}$ processes where $\ell$ is an electron or muon. The measurement is performed for invariant masses of the lepton pairs, $m_{\ell\ell}$, between 116 GeV and 1500 GeV, using a sample of 20.3 fb$^{-1}$ of pp collisions data at centre-of-mass energy of $\sqrt{s}$ = 8 TeV collected by the ATLAS detector at the LHC in 2012. The data are presented double differentially in invariant mass and absolute dilepton rapidity as well as in invariant mass and absolute pseudorapidity separation of the lepton pair. The single-differential cross section as a function of $m_{\ell\ell}$ is also reported. The electron and muon channel measurements are combined and a total experimental precision of better than 1% is achieved at low $m_{\ell\ell}$. A comparison to next-to-next-to-leading order perturbative QCD predictions using several recent parton distribution functions and including next-to-leading order electroweak effects indicates the potential of the data to constrain parton distribution functions. In particular, a large impact of the data on the photon PDF is demonstrated.

Event-shape observables measured using charged particles in inclusive $Z$-boson events are presented, using the electron and muon decay modes of the $Z$ bosons. The measurements are based on an integrated luminosity of $1.1 {\rm fb}^{-1}$ of proton--proton collisions recorded by the ATLAS detector at the LHC at a centre-of-mass energy $\sqrt{s}=7$ TeV. Charged-particle distributions, excluding the lepton--antilepton pair from the $Z$-boson decay, are measured in different ranges of transverse momentum of the $Z$ boson. Distributions include multiplicity, scalar sum of transverse momenta, beam thrust, transverse thrust, spherocity, and $\mathcal{F}$-parameter, which are in particular sensitive to properties of the underlying event at small values of the $Z$-boson transverse momentum. The Sherpa event generator shows larger deviations from the measured observables than Pythia8 and Herwig7. Typically, all three Monte Carlo generators provide predictions that are in better agreement with the data at high $Z$-boson transverse momenta than at low $Z$-boson transverse momenta and for the observables that are less sensitive to the number of charged particles in the event.

The $W$ boson angular distribution in events with high transverse momentum jets is measured using data collected by the ATLAS experiment from proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy $\sqrt{s}=$ 8 TeV at the Large Hadron Collider, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 20.3 fb$^{-1}$. The focus is on the contributions to $W$ + jets processes from real $W$ emission, which is achieved by studying events where a muon is observed close to a high transverse momentum jet. At small angular separations, these contributions are expected to be large. Various theoretical models of this process are compared to the data in terms of the absolute cross-section and the angular distributions of the muon from the leptonic $W$ decay.

A measurement of the $ZZ$ production in the $\ell^{-}\ell^{+}\ell^{\prime -}\ell^{\prime +}$ and $\ell^{-}\ell^{+}\nu\bar{\nu}$ channels $(\ell = e, \mu)$ in proton--proton collisions at $\sqrt{s} = 8$ TeV at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, using data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 20.3 fb$^{-1}$ collected by the ATLAS experiment in 2012 is presented. The fiducial cross sections for $ZZ\to\ell^{-}\ell^{+}\ell^{\prime -}\ell^{\prime +}$ and $ZZ\to \ell^{-}\ell^{+}\nu\bar{\nu}$ are measured in selected phase-space regions. The total cross section for $ZZ$ events produced with both $Z$ bosons in the mass range 66 to 116 GeV is measured from the combination of the two channels to be $7.3\pm0.4\textrm{(stat)}\pm0.3\textrm{(syst)}\pm0.2\textrm{(lumi)}$ pb, which is consistent with the Standard Model prediction of $6.6^{+0.7}_{-0.6}$ pb. The differential cross sections in bins of various kinematic variables are presented. The differential event yield as a function of the transverse momentum of the leading $Z$ boson is used to set limits on anomalous neutral triple gauge boson couplings in $ZZ$ production.

A measurement of the splitting scales occuring in the $k_\mathrm{t}$ jet-clustering algorithm is presented for final states containing a $Z$ boson. The measurement is done using 20.2 fb$^{-1}$ of proton-proton collision data collected at a centre-of-mass energy of $\sqrt{s} = 8$ TeV by the ATLAS experiment at the LHC in 2012. The measurement is based on charged-particle track information, which is measured with excellent precision in the $p_\mathrm{T}$ region relevant for the transition between the perturbative and the non-perturbative regimes. The data distributions are corrected for detector effects, and are found to deviate from state-of-the-art predictions in various regions of the observables.

This paper reports a search for triboson $W^{\pm}W^{\pm}W^{\mp}$ production in two decay channels ($W^{\pm}W^{\pm}W^{\mp}\rightarrow \ell^{\pm}\nu\ell^{\pm}\nu\ell^{\mp}\nu$ and $W^{\pm}W^{\pm}W^{\mp}\rightarrow \ell^{\pm}\nu\ell^{\pm}\nu{}jj$ with $\ell=e, \mu$) in proton-proton collision data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 20.3 fb$^{-1}$ at a centre-of-mass energy of 8 TeV with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. Events with exactly three charged leptons, or two leptons with the same electric charge in association with two jets, are selected. The total number of events observed in data is consistent with the Standard Model (SM) predictions. The observed 95 % confidence level upper limit on the SM $W^{\pm}W^{\pm}W^{\mp}$ production cross section is found to be 730 fb with an expected limit of 560 fb in the absence of SM $W^{\pm}W^{\pm}W^{\mp}$ production. Limits are also set on $WWWW$ anomalous quartic gauge couplings.

A measurement of the cross section for the inclusive production of isolated prompt photons in proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of $\sqrt{s} = 8$ TeV is presented. The measurement covers the pseudo rapidity ranges $|\eta^{\gamma}| < 1.37$ and $1.56 \leq |\eta^{\gamma}| < 2.37$ in the transverse energy range $25 < E_{\rm T}^{\gamma} < 1500$ GeV. The results are based on an integrated luminosity of 20.2 fb$^{-1}$, recorded by the ATLAS detector at the LHC. Photon candidates are identified by combining information from the calorimeters and the inner tracker. The background is subtracted using a data-driven technique, based on the observed calorimeter shower-shape variables and the deposition of hadronic energy in a narrow cone around the photon candidate. The measured cross sections are compared with leading-order and next-to-leading order perturbative QCD calculations and are found to be in a good agreement over ten orders of magnitude.

The production of $W^{\pm}Z$ events in proton--proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV is measured with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. The collected data correspond to an integrated luminosity of 3.2 fb$^{-1}$. The $W^{\pm}Z$ candidates are reconstructed using leptonic decays of the gauge bosons into electrons or muons. The measured inclusive cross section in the detector fiducial region for leptonic decay modes is $\sigma_{W^\pm Z \rightarrow \ell^{'} \nu \ell \ell}^{\textrm{fid.}} = 63.2 \pm 3.2$ (stat.) $\pm 2.6$ (sys.) $\pm 1.5$ (lumi.) fb. In comparison, the next-to-leading-order Standard Model prediction is $53.4^{+3.6}_{-2.8}$ fb. The extrapolation of the measurement from the fiducial to the total phase space yields $\sigma_{W^{\pm}Z}^{\textrm{tot.}} = 50.6 \pm 2.6$ (stat.) $\pm 2.0$ (sys.) $\pm 0.9$ (th.) $\pm 1.2$ (lumi.) pb, in agreement with a recent next-to-next-to-leading-order calculation of $48.2^{+1.1}_{-1.0}$ pb. The cross section as a function of jet multiplicity is also measured, together with the charge-dependent $W^+Z$ and $W^-Z$ cross sections and their ratio.

Inclusive jet production cross-sections are measured in proton--proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of $\sqrt{s}=$8 TeV recorded by the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN. The total integrated luminosity of the analysed data set amounts to $20.2$ fb$^{-1}$. Double-differential cross-sections are measured for jets defined by the anti-$k_{t}$ jet clustering algorithm with radius parameters of $R=0.4$ and $R=0.6$ and are presented as a function of the jet transverse momentum, in the range between 70 GeV and 2.5 TeV and in six bins of the absolute jet rapidity, between 0 and 3.0. The measured cross-sections are compared to predictions of quantum chromodynamics, calculated at next-to-leading order in perturbation theory, and corrected for non-perturbative and electroweak effects. The level of agreement with predictions, using a selection of different parton distribution functions for the proton, is quantified. Tensions between the data and the theory predictions are observed.

The production of $W$ boson pairs in proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s}=$ 8 TeV is studied using data corresponding to 20.3 fb$^{-1}$ of integrated luminosity collected by the ATLAS detector during 2012 at the CERN Large Hadron Collider. The $W$ bosons are reconstructed using their leptonic decays into electrons or muons and neutrinos. Events with reconstructed jets are not included in the candidate event sample. A total of 6636 $WW$ candidate events are observed. Measurements are performed in fiducial regions closely approximating the detector acceptance. The integrated measurement is corrected for all acceptance effects and for the $W$ branching fractions to leptons in order to obtain the total $WW$ production cross section, which is found to be 71.1$\pm1.1$(stat)$^{+5.7}_{-5.0}$(syst)$\pm1.4$ pb. This agrees with the next-to-next-to-leading-order Standard Model prediction of 63.2$^{+1.6}_{-1.4}$(scale)$\pm1.2$(PDF) pb. Fiducial differential cross sections are measured as a function of each of six kinematic variables. The distribution of the transverse momentum of the leading lepton is used to set limits on anomalous triple-gauge-boson couplings.

Measurements of the top--antitop quark pair production charge asymmetry in the dilepton channel, characterized by two high-${p}_{\rm{T}}$ leptons (electrons or muons), are presented using data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of $20.3$ $\textrm{fb}^{-1}$ from $pp$ collisions at a center-of-mass energy of $\sqrt{s} = 8$ TeV collected with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN. Inclusive and differential measurements as a function of the invariant mass, transverse momentum, and longitudinal boost of the $t\bar{t}$ system are performed both in the full phase space and in a fiducial phase space closely matching the detector acceptance. Two observables are studied: $A^{\ell\ell}_{\textrm{C}}$ based on the selected leptons and $A^{t\bar{t}}_{\textrm{C}}$ based on the reconstructed $t\bar{t}$ final state. The inclusive asymmetries are measured in the full phase space to be $A^{\ell\ell}_{\textrm{C}} = 0.008 \pm 0.006$ and $A^{t\bar{t}}_{\textrm{C}} = 0.021 \pm 0.016$, which are in agreement with the Standard Model predictions of $A^{\ell\ell}_{\textrm{C}} = 0.0064 \pm 0.0003 $ and $A^{t\bar{t}}_{\textrm{C}} = 0.0111 \pm 0.0004$.

Measurements of the electroweak production of a $W$ boson in association with two jets at high dijet invariant mass are performed using $\sqrt{s} = 7$ and $8$ TeV proton-proton collision data produced by the Large Hadron Collider, corresponding respectively to 4.7 and 20.2 fb$^{-1}$ of integrated luminosity collected by the ATLAS detector. The measurements are sensitive to the production of a $W$ boson via a triple-gauge-boson vertex and include both the fiducial and differential cross sections of the electroweak process.

This paper describes a measurement of fiducial and differential cross sections of gluon-fusion Higgs boson production in the $H{\rightarrow\,}WW^{\ast}{\rightarrow\,}e\nu\mu\nu$ channel, using 20.3 fb$^{-1}$ of proton-proton collision data. The data were produced at a centre-of-mass energy of $\sqrt{s} = 8$ TeV at the CERN Large Hadron Collider and recorded by the ATLAS detector in 2012. Cross sections are measured from the observed $H{\rightarrow\,}WW^{\ast}{\rightarrow\,}e\nu\mu\nu$ signal yield in categories distinguished by the number of associated jets. The total cross section is measured in a fiducial region defined by the kinematic properties of the charged leptons and neutrinos. Differential cross sections are reported as a function of the number of jets, the Higgs boson transverse momentum, the dilepton rapidity, and the transverse momentum of the leading jet. The jet-veto efficiency, or fraction of events with no jets above a given transverse momentum threshold, is also reported. All measurements are compared to QCD predictions from Monte Carlo generators and fixed-order calculations, and are in agreement with the Standard Model predictions.

Fiducial cross-sections for $t\bar{t}$ production with one or two additional $b$-jets are reported, using an integrated luminosity of 20.3 fb$^{-1}$ of proton--proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 8 TeV at the Large Hadron Collider, collected with the ATLAS detector. The cross-section times branching ratio for $t\bar{t}$ events with at least one additional $b$-jet is measured to be 950 $\pm$ 70 (stat.) $^{+240}_{-190}$ (syst.) fb in the lepton-plus-jets channel and 50 $\pm$ 10 (stat.) $^{+15}_{-10}$ (syst.) fb in the $e \mu$ channel. The cross-section times branching ratio for events with at least two additional $b$-jets is measured to be 19.3 $\pm$ 3.5 (stat.) $\pm$ 5.7 (syst.) fb in the dilepton channel ($e \mu$,\,$\mu\mu$, and \,$ee$) using a method based on tight selection criteria, and 13.5 $\pm$ 3.3 (stat.) $\pm$ 3.6 (syst.) fb using a looser selection that allows the background normalisation to be extracted from data. The latter method also measures a value of 1.30 $\pm$ 0.33 (stat.) $\pm$ 0.28 (syst.)\% for the ratio of $t\bar{t}$ production with two additional $b$-jets to $t\bar{t}$ production with any two additional jets. All measurements are in good agreement with recent theory predictions.

This paper presents measurements of distributions of charged particles which are produced in proton--proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of $\sqrt{s} = 8$ TeV and recorded by the ATLAS detector at the LHC. A special dataset recorded in 2012 with a small number of interactions per beam crossing (below 0.004) and corresponding to an integrated luminosity of $160 \mathrm{\mu b^{-1}}$ was used. A minimum-bias trigger was utilised to select a data sample of more than 9 million collision events. The multiplicity, pseudorapidity, and transverse momentum distributions of charged particles are shown in different regions of kinematics and charged-particle multiplicity, including measurements of final states at high multiplicity. The results are corrected for detector effects and are compared to the predictions of various Monte Carlo event generator models which simulate the full hadronic final state.

This paper describes a measurement of the inclusive top quark pair production cross-section ($\sigma_{t\bar{t}}$) with a data sample of 3.2 fb$^{-1}$ of proton--proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of $\sqrt{s}$=13 TeV, collected in 2015 by the ATLAS detector at the LHC. This measurement uses events with an opposite-charge electron--muon pair in the final state. Jets containing $b$-quarks are tagged using an algorithm based on track impact parameters and reconstructed secondary vertices. The numbers of events with exactly one and exactly two $b$-tagged jets are counted and used to determine simultaneously $\sigma_{t\bar{t}}$ and the efficiency to reconstruct and $b$-tag a jet from a top quark decay, thereby minimising the associated systematic uncertainties. The cross-section is measured to be: $\sigma_{t\bar{t}}$= 818 $\pm$ 8 (stat) $\pm$ 27 (syst) $\pm$ 19 (lumi) $\pm$ 12 (beam) pb, where the four uncertainties arise from data statistics, experimental and theoretical systematic effects, the integrated luminosity and the LHC beam energy, giving a total relative uncertainty of 4.4%. The result is consistent with theoretical QCD calculations at next-to-next-to-leading order. A fiducial measurement corresponding to the experimental acceptance of the leptons is also presented.

The momentum-weighted sum of the charges of tracks associated to a jet is sensitive to the charge of the initiating quark or gluon. This paper presents a measurement of the distribution of momentum-weighted sums, called jet charge, in dijet events using 20.3 fb$^{-1}$ of data recorded with the ATLAS detector at $\sqrt{s}=8$ TeV in $pp$ collisions at the LHC. The jet charge distribution is unfolded to remove distortions from detector effects and the resulting particle-level distribution is compared with several models. The $p_T$-dependence of the jet charge distribution average and standard deviation are compared to predictions obtained with several LO and NLO parton distribution functions. The data are also compared to different Monte Carlo simulations of QCD dijet production using various settings of the free parameters within these models. The chosen value of the strong coupling constant used to calculate gluon radiation is found to have a significant impact on the predicted jet charge. There is evidence for a $p_{T}$-dependence of the jet charge distribution for a given jet flavor. In agreement with perturbative QCD predictions, the data show that the average jet charge of quark-initiated jets decreases in magnitude as the energy of the jet increases.

This paper presents measurements of $W^\pm Z$ production in $pp$ collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 8 TeV. The gauge bosons are reconstructed using their leptonic decay modes into electrons and muons. The data were collected in 2012 by the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider, and correspond to an integrated luminosity of 20.3 fb$^{-1}$. The measured inclusive cross section in the detector fiducial region is $\sigma_{W^\pm Z \rightarrow \ell^{'} \nu\ \ell \ell} = 35.1 \pm$ 0.9 (stat.) $\pm 0.8$ (sys.) $\pm 0.8$ (lumi.) fb, for one leptonic decay channel. In comparison, the next-to-leading-order Standard Model expectation is 30.0 $\pm$ 2.1 fb. Cross sections for $W^+Z$ and $W^-Z$ production and their ratio are presented as well as differential cross sections for several kinematic observables. Limits on anomalous triple gauge boson couplings are derived from the transverse mass spectrum of the $W^\pm Z$ system. From the analysis of events with a $W$ and a $Z$ boson associated with two or more forward jets an upper limit at 95% confidence level on the $W^\pm Z$ scattering cross section of 0.63 fb, for each leptonic decay channel, is established, while the Standard Model prediction at next-to-leading order is 0.13 fb. Limits on anomalous quartic gauge boson couplings are also extracted.

The dijet production cross section for jets containing a $b$-hadron ($b$-jets) has been measured in proton-proton collisions with a centre-of-mass energy of $\sqrt{s} = 7$ TeV, using the ATLAS detector at the LHC. The data used correspond to an integrated luminosity of 4.2 fb$^{-1}$. The cross section is measured for events with two identified $b$-jets with a transverse momentum $p_T > 20$ GeV and a minimum separation in the $\eta$-$\phi$ plane of $\Delta R = 0.4$. At least one of the jets in the event is required to have $p_T > 270$ GeV. The cross section is measured differentially as a function of dijet invariant mass, dijet transverse momentum, boost of the dijet system, and the rapidity difference, azimuthal angle and angular distance between the $b$-jets. The results are compared to different predictions of leading order and next-to-leading order perturbative quantum chromodynamics matrix elements supplemented with models for parton-showers and hadronization.

Distributions sensitive to the underlying event in QCD jet events have been measured with the ATLAS detector at the LHC, based on 37/pb of proton-proton collision data collected at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV. Charged-particle mean $p_T$ and densities of all-particle $E_T$ and charged-particle multiplicity and $p_T$ have been measured in regions azimuthally transverse to the hardest jet in each event. These are presented both as one-dimensional distributions and with their mean values as functions of the leading-jet transverse momentum from 20 GeV to 800 GeV. The correlation of charged-particle mean $p_T$ with charged-particle multiplicity is also studied, and the $E_T$ densities include the forward rapidity region; these features provide extra data constraints for Monte Carlo modelling of colour reconnection and beam-remnant effects respectively. For the first time, underlying event observables have been computed separately for inclusive jet and exclusive dijet event selections, allowing more detailed study of the interplay of multiple partonic scattering and QCD radiation contributions to the underlying event. Comparisons to the predictions of different Monte Carlo models show a need for further model tuning, but the standard approach is found to generally reproduce the features of the underlying event in both types of event selection.

Measurements of differential production cross-sections of a $Z$ boson in association with $b$-jets in $pp$ collisions at $\sqrt{s}=7$ TeV are reported. The data analysed correspond to an integrated luminosity of 4.6 fb$^{-1}$ recorded with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. Particle-level cross-sections are determined for events with a $Z$ boson decaying into an electron or muon pair, and containing $b$-jets. For events with at least one $b$-jet, the cross-section is presented as a function of the $Z$ boson transverse momentum and rapidity, together with the inclusive $b$-jet cross-section as a function of $b$-jet transverse momentum, rapidity and angular separations between the $b$-jet and the $Z$ boson. For events with at least two $b$-jets, the cross-section is determined as a function of the invariant mass and angular separation of the two highest transverse momentum $b$-jets, and as a function of the $Z$ boson transverse momentum and rapidity. Results are compared to leading-order and next-to-leading-order perturbative QCD calculations.

The dynamics of isolated-photon plus jet production in pp collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV has been studied with the ATLAS detector at the LHC using an integrated luminosity of 37 pb-1. Measurements of isolated-photon plus jet bin-averaged cross sections are presented as functions of photon transverse energy, jet transverse momentum and jet rapidity. In addition, the bin-averaged cross sections as functions of the difference between the azimuthal angles of the photon and the jet, the photon--jet invariant mass and the scattering angle in the photon--jet centre-of-mass frame have been measured. Next-to-leading-order QCD calculations are compared to the measurements and provide a good description of the data, except for the case of the azimuthal opening angle.

This Letter reports a measurement of the exclusive $\gamma\gamma\rightarrow \ell^+\ell^- (\ell=e, \mu)$ cross-section in proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV by the ATLAS experiment at the LHC, based on an integrated luminosity of $4.6$ fb$^{-1}$. For the electron or muon pairs satisfying exclusive selection criteria, a fit to the dilepton acoplanarity distribution is used to extract the fiducial cross-sections. The cross-section in the electron channel is determined to be $\sigma_{\gamma\gamma\rightarrow e^+e^-}^{\mathrm{excl.}} = 0.428 \pm 0.035 (\mathrm{stat.}) \pm 0.018 (\mathrm{syst.})$ pb for a phase-space region with invariant mass of the electron pairs greater than 24 GeV, in which both electrons have transverse momentum $p_\mathrm{T}>12$ GeV and pseudorapidity $|\eta|<2.4$. For muon pairs with invariant mass greater than 20 GeV, muon transverse momentum $p_\mathrm{T}>10$ GeV and pseudorapidity $|\eta|<2.4$, the cross-section is determined to be $\sigma_{\gamma\gamma\rightarrow \mu^+\mu^- }^{\mathrm{excl.}} = 0.628 \pm 0.032 (\mathrm{stat.}) \pm 0.021 (\mathrm{syst.})$ pb. When proton absorptive effects due to the finite size of the proton are taken into account in the theory calculation, the measured cross-sections are found to be consistent with the theory prediction.

The inclusive jet cross-section is measured in proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV using a data set corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 4.5 fb$^{-1}$ collected with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider in 2011. Jets are identified using the anti-$k_t$ algorithm with radius parameter values of 0.4 and 0.6. The double-differential cross-sections are presented as a function of the jet transverse momentum and the jet rapidity, covering jet transverse momenta from 100 GeV to 2 TeV. Next-to-leading-order QCD calculations corrected for non-perturbative effects and electroweak effects, as well as Monte Carlo simulations with next-to-leading-order matrix elements interfaced to parton showering, are compared to the measured cross-sections. A quantitative comparison of the measured cross-sections to the QCD calculations using several sets of parton distribution functions is performed.

High transverse momentum jets produced in pp collisions at a centre of mass energy of 7 TeV are used to measure the transverse energy-energy correlation function and its associated azimuthal asymmetry. The data were recorded with the ATLAS detector at the LHC in the year 2011 and correspond to an integrated luminosity of 158 $\mathrm{pb}^{-1}$. The selection criteria demand the average transverse momentum of the two leading jets in an event to be larger than 250 GeV. The data at detector level are well described by Monte Carlo event generators. They are unfolded to the particle level and compared with theoretical calculations at next-to-leading-order accuracy. The agreement between data and theory is good and provides a precision test of perturbative Quantum Chromodynamics at large momentum transfers. From this comparison, the strong coupling constant given at the $Z$ boson mass is determined to be $\alpha_{\mathrm{s}}(m_Z) = 0.1173 \pm 0.0010 \mbox{ (exp.) }^{+0.0065}_{-0.0026} \mbox{ (theo.)}$.